Method and apparatus for finishing fabric articles



,July 18, 1950 E. R. JARMAIN METHOD AND APPARATUS FoR FINISHING FABRICARTICLES Filed nec. 1,*1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 `lluly 18, 1950 E. R.JARMAIN 2,515,828

METHOD AND APPARATUS FoR FINISHING FABRIC ARTICLES Filed DeG. 1, 1945l:s sheets-sheet 2 vJuly 1.8, 1950 E. R. JAMAIN 2,515,328

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FINISHING FABRIC ARTICLES Filed Dec. 1, 1945 3Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented July 18, 1950 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FINIsHINGvFABRIG ARTICLES Edwin Roper Jarmain, London, Ontario, Canada, I

" assignortoE. R. Jal-main & Co. Limited, London,vntario, CanadaApplieatien December 1, v1945, serial No. 632,169

In Canada November 12, 1945 This invention relates to ainethod andapparatus for finishing garments and other fabric articleswaftercleaning of the same.

t It is `recent practice, in* garment cleaning es" tablishments, tofinish a cleaned article by placing it on an inatableybut permeable formor dummy, steaming the" article by forcing steam through the form,`and'iinally' drying the article by forcing heated air through the form,the latter being maintained in distended and article-engaging positionunder'the action ofthe steam and air. The dressing and fundressing of asubstantially full form or dummy is a time-consuming operation, but it`hasher'etofore been considered advisable to ensure distention of thegarment under treatment by causing the inated form to engagesubstantially theentire inside surface of the garment.

It is an object of the' presente invention to provide a methodandapparatus for finishing articles by subjecting them tothel action ofsteam and hot air in amore rapid-convenient and effective manner thanhas heretoforebeen considered possible. It is another object toprovide adevice scription with particular reference tothe accom` panying drawingsin which Figure 1 vis a front elevation of a device constructed inaccordance with the invention,

Figure 2 is a side elevation, Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional planview of a portion of the device, certain parts being broken away oromitted for clarity of illustration,

`Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional front elevation, l l

`Figure 5 is an enlarged planview of one of the steaming cones ofthedevice,

Figure 6 is a front elevation `of a garment hanger, v l

Figure 7 is a sectional side elevation of the garment hanger,

AFigure 8 is a sectional elevation of a steam nozzle, l

' Figure 9 is a plan view of thelsteam nozzle,

Figure 10 is a front elevation'of a skirt or like hanger, and l 'Figure11 is an end elevation'of the skirt or like hanger, f l Y -Referring tothe drawingathe device comprises oneor, preferably, two steam' and airdistributing units I, an air heater' and `blowerunit 2, anda garmenthanger 3-for `suspendinga garment or the like over each unit I;

1a claims. (c1. 223-70) ing to the unit 2.

.f y frusto-conical fabric cover II, formed of a per-` A drawstring I2lIl, cylinder. A drawstring `I3 may also be provided .Each unit Icomprises an upright cylinder 4 forming a cylindrical plenum chamber 4having apstearn nozzle 5 therein supplied with steam from the pipe B andan inlet 1 communicating Witha passage 8 formed by the walls 9 andleadtop and is 4provided. with an upwardly extending tripod supportingframe I0, the legs of which are secured to the cylinder adjacent the topthereof. Supported on the tripod frame is a substantially meable cottonor likel material. may be provided at the lower edge -of the fabriccover to enable the same to be secured in tightly engaging relation withthe top portion of the at the upper edgeof the fabric cover to form ameans for adjusting the size of an opening I4 in the top portion of thecover or for closing such opening.

The air heating and blower unit 2 is of usual4 construction` andincludes a casing I9, a steam heating. coil or the like I5 for heatingt'he incoming air, anda blower wheel I6 driven by av motor I1 forblowing the heated air into the passage 8. Y.

The article hanger 3 comprises an upright post I8, which mayconveniently be fixed to the casing I9, `having a forwardly extendingupper portion: or arm 20, at the end of which is fixed a sleeve 2|v inaxial alignment with the chamber 4' and conical fabric cover II. A rod22 is slidably mounted in the sleeve andrmeans are provided for lockingthe rod in any desired position and for permitting ready adjustment ofsu-ch position. Such meansy may comprise a washer 23 carried by anangularly extending manually depressible plate 24 which is pivoted to anarml 25 on the sleeve. The rod exe. tends through the washer and isadapted to bei pinched thereby when the latter is in inclined orlikematerial and has a stiffening rib 29 formedV of spring steel seatedin a centrally disposed pock.-

et 30 provided on the rear surface of the bib. Thev edges of the bib maybe `reinforced and stiflenedv .Y by means of tape 3I or the like. Therib extendsv in a downward and outwardly inclined direction from theblock 21 and is generally convex in transverse section. A pin 32 ismounted in theupper rear portion of the block 21. `As shown in Figures1y and 2, a garment 33 on an ordinary The cylinder 4 is open at thehanger 34 is adapted to be placed on the hanger assembly 3 withoutremoving the ordinary hanger 34 which is held in position by the stoppin 32. The bib 28 is adapted to substantially ll the neck opening *offthe garment, the bib being of such size that it will ll vneck `openingsof a wide range of sizes.

In operation, the garment on its usual hanger is simply hung on theassembly 3, as described, and the neck portion of the garment adjustedaround the bib. The hanger rod 22 is then adjusted to place the loweredge or hemline of the garment in slightly spaced or in delicatelycontacting relation with the conical cover Il of the unit I. Steam isthen admitted to the plenum chamber 4 through the nozzle 5 and iiowsupwardly into and through the conical fabric cover H which effectivelydistributes it into the suspended garment. After the steaming operation,heated air is blown through the garment to dry the same.

- It is to be particularly noted that substantially the entire garmentis free from contact with the steam and air distributing cone Il. Thus,garments are iree to assume their normal shape under the inuence of thesteam or air under pressure, with substantially no possibility ofstretching as may occur when a contacting distendable bag is employed.Moreover, staining or spotting of'the garment by water slugs, whichfrequently occur when there is contact between the garment anddistributing means, is substantially eliminated.

The absence of a full form or dummy, which has to be virtually dressedand undressed each time a garment is processed, drastically cuts thetime required for application and removal.

Moreover, Vsince in most plants gaments `enter for iinishing on theusual wire or wood hangers, much time is saved by permitting theoriginal hanger to remain in the garment during finishing. Eliminationof this tedious time-consuming operation of removing and replacinghangers is of great importance from a production cost standpoint.

Since the hanger supporting block 21 is swivelly mounted, the garmentmay be readily rotated to permit inspection during the finishingoperation.

AAn important feature of the invention resides in the provision of apair of garment treating devices combined in a single finishing machine,as shown in Figures 1 to 4. For this purposes, the passage 8 is Y-shapedto form two outlet branches 35 and 36 leading to the respective plenumchambers 4. A continuation l36 of the steam supply pipe 6 communicateswith the steam nozzle 5 of the second plenum chamber 4', andr pipe 31from the second nozzle leads to a return trap.

Each steam nozzle is provided with a normally closed valve 38, and meansfor opening each valve comprises a lever 39 pivotally supported on thevalve body at 40 and having one end adapted to contact the valveactuating plunger 4I and its other end pivoted to a link 42. The link 42eX- tends through the wall of cylinder 4 and is pivoted to one end of abell-crank lever 43 which is pivo'tally mounted in a bracket 44 fixedtothe outer wall of the cylinder: A link 45 pivotally connects the otherend of lever 43 with an operating pedal arm 46, the inner end of whichis loosely pivoted on a pin 41 mounted in a frame member 48 and theouter end of which extends through an opening -49 in a frame member 50.Such outer end carries the foot-engagingplate I. The opening hand sideof Figure 4. A laterally extending slot 54 is provided at the lowerportion of opening 49 to receive and hold the pedal arm in valve-openingposition.

Means .for controlling the flow of air in the pasf sage portions '35 and36 comprises an air damper 55 adapted inoneposition to close portion 35and open 36 and in its other position to close portion 36 .and open 35.56 rotatably mounted in bearings 58. An arm 58 for rotating rod 56 andimparting swinging movement to the damper is fixed to the rod and isprovided with a vertically extending portion 59. Means for actuating thearm 58 comprises a shaft 60 journalled in frame parts 50 and 6I, anupwardly extending bar 62 xed to the inner end of the shaft and having a'U-shapedportion or yoke 63 on its upper end in engagement With thevertically extending portion 59 of the arm 58', and a bi-pedal arm 64xed to the outer end of the shaft for imparting rotative movement to thef shaft. It will 4be observed that when the bi-pedal v; wall of one ofpassage portions and 36, as

, which might cause spotting of garments.

shown in Figure 3.

.Means for ensuring that the air passage and steam valve of any otherchamber 4 will not be open at the same time comprises a T-shaped lever65 pivoted to the frame member 48 at a point between the pedal arms46and having the extremities of its cross arm 66 located to engage eitheredal arm 46 when positioned in the catch or slot 54. The arm .58 of theair damper passes through a notch 61 in the cross arm 66 whereby theside to side movement of the arm 58 will also impart side to sidemovement of the lever 65 about its pivotand cause the cross armextremity to engage and pushthe respective pedal arm 46 out of its catch54, thus permitting automatic closing of the steam yvalve under theaction rof spring 52. Fine adjustment of the length of the cross arm 66is provided by means of screws 68 mounted in the ends thereof.

Figures 8 and 9 illustrate in detail theimproved type of steam nozzlewhich it is proposed to employ and which is adapted to satisfactorilydiffuse the steam while at the same time eciently separating therefromany drops of moisture which The nozzle comprises a substantiallycylindrical member 69, preferably formed of brass, and adapted to be.attached to the valve 38. A cylindrical chamber 10 havingI a conical topportion 1l is formed with the member 69. The outer top surface 12 of themember is also substantially conical and a plurality of steam jet holes13 extend from the portion 1I to the surface 12. A horizontally disposedsteam difuser disc 14 surmounts the memf. ber 69 whereby steam jetsissuing from the holes The damper 55 is fixed to a rody nozzle, situatedas it is belowthe rim of the plenum chamber, eliminates the necessityfor any moisture separator in the steam supply line or for any fabric orother type of shield over the steaming outlet. Because of the absence ofsuch a separator or shield, a very rapid steaming action is obtainedwithout danger of spotting garments with water drops. ,i

vFigures 10 and 11 illustrate a modified and adjustable form of garmenthanger assembly adapted to support a garment, such as a skirt, which isnot susceptible to `hanging on the usual type of hanger. As shown, across arm 'l5 is mounted on the lower end of the hanger rod 22 and apair of slides 16, one oneach end portion of the cross arm, are freelyslidable thereon. Each slide carries a depending garment-engaging ingerll, which may be rubber covered to improve the gripping action on thegarment. A Weight 18 is slidably mounted on the rod 22 and is pivotallyconnected by links 19 with the slides 1B. A pin 8D limits the downwardmovement of the weight. It will be observed that upward movement of theweight 'i8 will cause inward movement of the two slides whereby agarment, such as indicated at 8l, may be positioned in relation to thenngers 'll as shown. Thereafter the weight is permitted to movedownwardly to cause outward movement of the slides and grippingengagement of the lingers with the garment while at the same timeclosing the top opening of the garment. A needle 82 on one `of thefingers 'l1 may be provided to hold the slit or placket of skirts andthe like closed during the finishing operation.

The employment of a two-garment handling machine results in aparticularly efficient and rapid treatment of garments. While the firstgarment is being steamed on one side `the operator can be removing afinished garment from the other side and placing a third one ready forsteaming. Since steaming time is only about 10 seconds, the firstgarment is ready to be subjected to hot air drying about the time theoperator has the third garment placed. Stepping on the air pedal, ofcourse, automatically discontinues the steaming of the first garment,and the steaming of the third garment can then be proceeded with. I

The hot air blower fan is adapted to run continuously while the machineis in use. A very minute amount of air will flow past the `closed airdamper 55 due to unavoidable tolerances in the fit thereof. However,this minute quantity of air under pressure has a favourable `effect in'the steaming operation since it acts to force the for this purpose andit is therefore proposed to provide automatic means for bleeding aneffective quantity of air for this purpose. Referring to Figure 3, anupright pin 83 is fixed to each steam-controlling pedal arm 46 toprovide a stop which, when the pedal arm is in its upper or valveclosedposition, serves to prevent the air damper 55 from reaching fully closedposition, as shown in dotted lines. The pin 83 is of limited height' sothatywhen the pedal arm 46 is depressed to open the steam valve, it isdrawn out of engagement with the air damper to release the latter andpermit .the air pressure from the fan to close the remaining opening andthereby stop the air bleeding. The presence of the amount of airprovided by the air bleeding described would be detrimental during thesteaming operation.

It will be understood that various changes may be made in the structuraldetails described without departing from the spirit of the invention.What is claimed is: i 1. A fabric article finishing machine comprising asteam and hot air receiving container, a permeable fabric hood mountedon the container and receiving steam and hot air therefrom, an articlehanger suspended above the hood in spaced vertical alignment therewith,and means for supporting said hanger comprising a post having anoverhanging portion, and a substantially vertically disposed rodslidably carried by said overhanging portion forperpendicularadjustment, a device for locking the rod in adjustedposition, and a member swivelly carried by the lower end of said rod andadapted to carry said hanger.

2. A fabric article nishing machine asilefined in claim l, wherein saidhanger comprises a block swivelly carried by said rod, and asubstantially triangular fabric bib fixed to the block and extending ina downward and outwardly inclined direction therefrom, said bib havingstiffening means incorporated therein.

3.A fabric garment finishing machinecomprising a steam and hot airreceiving container, a.` substantially conical permeable fabric hoodmounted on the container and receiving steam and hot air therefrom, anda garment hanger suspended over'the hood in spacedvertical alignmenttherewith, said hanger including a supporting post, a verticallyadjustable rod carried by the post, a member swivelly carried by therod, and a substantially triangular bib carried by the member andadapted to fill the neck opening of a suspended garment, the spacebetween said bib and hood being free from intervening .bodies other thana suspended garment.`

4. A fabric garmentnnishing machine comprising a steam and hot airreceiving container, a substantially conical permeable fabric "hoodmounted on the container and receiving steam and hot air therefrom, anda garment hanger suspended over the hood in spaced vertical alignmenttherewith, said hanger including a vertically disposed andperpendicularly adjustable rod, a bar fixed to the end of the rodatfright angles thereto, a pair of slides on the bar and having garmentengaging fingers depending therefrom, a weight slidable on the rod; and'links lpivotally connecting the weight and slides.

5. A fabric article finishing machine comprising an open top container,means for supplying hot air to the container, a steam nozzle in ,thecontainer4 comprising a housing for receiving' ing'an open topcontainer, means for supplying hot 'air tothe container, a steam nozzlein the container comprising an upright cylindrical housing for receivingsteam, the inner and outer top surfaces of the housing beingsubstantially conical, the top of the housing having a plurality ofinclined steam outlet openings therein extending from the inner to theouter conical surface, and va substantially horizontally disposed discspaced above said openings and on which the steam jets issuing from saidopenings .are adapted to impinge, a permeable fabric hood mounted on thetop of the container and receiving steam and hot air therefrom, and anarticle hanger suspended over the hood in spaced vertical alignmenttherewith.

'7. A fabric article finishing machine comprising va pair of articletreating devices each including an open top container, a permeablefabric hood mounted on the top of .the container, and an article hangersuspended over the hood in spaced vertical alignment therewith, a steamsupply pipe communicating with each container, a valve in each pipewithin the container for controlling the steam supply, a hot airsupplying unit, means forming a hot air passage leading from the unitand having branches communicating with each container, a valve forclosing either of said branch passages, and manually actuatable meansfor controlling said steam and air valves. ff

' 8. A fabric article finishing machine comprising a pair of articlevtreating devices each .including an open top container, a substantiallyconical permeable fabric hood mounted on the top of the container, andan article hanger sus-- pended over the hood in spaced verticalalignment therewith, a steam supply pipe communieating with eachcontainer, a valve in each pipe within the container for controlling thesteam supply, a manually actuatable lever for opening and closing eachvalve, a hot air supplying unit, means forming a hot air passage leadingfrom the unit and having branches communicating with each container, adamper for closing one of the branch passages while opening the other,manually operative means for actuating said air damper, and meansresponsive to actuation of said air damper for closing one of said steamvalves.

9. A fabric `article finishing machine comprising a pair of articletreating devices each including an open top container, a permeablefabric hood mounted on the top of the container, and an article hangersuspended over the hood in spaced vertical alignment therewith, a steamsupply pipe communicating with each container, a valve in each pipe forcontrolling the steam supply, a hot air supplying unit, a lever foropening and closing each valve, a pedal for actuating each lever, meansforming a hot air passage leading from the unit and'having branchescommunicating with each container, an air damper for closing one of thebranch passages while opening the other, a lever for actuating the airdamper, and a loi-pedal for operating the lever.

`10. A fabric article finishing machine as defined in claim 9 includinga lever actuatable by movementv of said air damper actuating lever foractuating said steam supply controlling pedal yto close the valvecontrolled thereby.

l1. A fabric article finishing machine comprising a plurality of articletreating devices each including an open top container, a permeablefabric hood mounted on the top of the container, a steam supply pipecommunicating with each container, a hot air supplying unit, meansforming a hot air passage leading from the unit and having branchescommunicating with each container, and means for controlling the flow ofsteam through said pipe and for controlling the flow of liot air througheach of said branches.

l2. A 'fabric article finishing machine comprising a plurality ofarticle treating devices each including an open top container, apermeable fabric hood mounted on the top of the container, and articlehanging means suspended over the hood in spaced vertical alignmenttherewith, a steam supply pipe communicating with each container, valvemeans in each pipe within the container for controlling the steamsupply, a hot air supplying unit, means forming hot air passages leadingfrom the unit and communicating with each container, valve means forinterrupting communication between each container and a hot air passage,and means for controlling the lsteam and hot air valve means.

13. A method of iinishing a fabric garment which comprises freelysuspending the garment on a conventional coat hanger and, whilemaintaining the opposing inner surfaces of the garment throughout themajor length of the garment free from the presence of intervening solidbodies and the entire portion of the garment other than thehanger-engaging portion in free and unattached relation, successivelyadmitting steam and heated air under pressure to the interior of thegarment at points between the lower portions of said inner surfaces, thegarment being free to distend to its normal shape under the iniiuence ofsaid steam and heated air.

EDWIN ROPER JARMAIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record ln the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS y Date

